Saturday, 7 January 2017

Iraq to repatriate security forces dismissed after fall of Mosul

BAGHDAD — Lawmakers in the Iraqi
Parliament have overwhelmingly voted in favor of a motion to repatriate
those dismissed from the ministries of defense and interior after the
fall of Mosul, an Iraqi MP said on Saturday (January 7).

There are Kurdish nationals among those
dismissed from the army, police and security institutions – some of whom
resigned, absconded or had their contracts terminated.

“The Iraqi Council of Ministers decided
to repatriate those whose contracts were terminated from ministries of
defense and interior since 2014,” said Iraqi MP Zana Rostay.

“There are a number of Kurdish nationals
from the army, police and security institutions in Mosul, Kirkuk,
Diyala and some other areas,” he added.

After the fall of Iraq's second largest
city of Mosul to Islamic State (ISIS) in June 2014, some Iraq commanders
and officers were dismissed for negligence.

There has been no official accounting for how Mosul was lost, or of who gave the order to abandon the fight.

ISIS’ seizure of Mosul, in June 2014 as
it swept across the Syrian border and declared a modern "caliphate",
exposed the failings of a governing system defined largely by
ethno-sectarian party patronage.